Basic HTML Version
Life for the family during Cooper’s
formative years wasn’t easy. The Great
Depression saw drought, poor crops and
low cattle prices. As conditions began
to improve, the family’s buildings were
destroyed by a cyclone in 1937.
“It was tough,” said Cooper, “but
the other thing that was critical to our
development was my parents were really
strong on education.”
While attending a one-room
schoolhouse, he recalls selling his
pencil case to another student for what
he thought was the princely sum of 25
cents. He later realized what he thought
was a quarter was actually an oversized
one-cent piece. His parents expanded
upon this hard lesson in economics,
opening a bank account for their son.
While he continued grade school as
a boarding student in the village of
Kelliher, he was expected to supplement
the rent money in the account with his
own earnings. His odd jobs included
chauffeuring his landlords’ children by
horse and buggy. Later, attending high
school in Foam Lake, he worked at a
chicken plant.
All of Cooper’s siblings went on to
post-secondary education, as did he in
1949, earning a bachelor of science at
the University of Saskatchewan College
of Agriculture in 1951.
Just prior to graduation came the turn
of events Cooper describes as “the
real game changer.” Hartford Lewis,
his agricultural engineering professor,
invited him to work on the Lewis family
farm in Gray, SK, and subsequently
insisted he take a job teaching farming
courses. This led to two decades
instructing university extension courses
in welding, farm power and machinery,
as well as marketing.
After two years on the Lewis farm,
Cooper purchased a quack-grass-
infested half-section adjacent to his
father’s land and seeded it to barley, but
it took him a few years to commit to life as
a farmer.
“The wild oats almost did me in,”
he said.
Cooper also took to raising purebred
shorthorns, though he sold his herd
in 1969 as the demands of his cattle
operation became incompatible with his
winter teaching schedule. In partnership
with his nephews, he maintained a grain
operation until 2008.
Cooper’s own agricultural knowledge
snowballed while co-ordinating the
university’s rural courses across the
province through the mid-’70s. He
absorbed the expertise of fellow
university professors and the best
practices of the seasoned farmers
enrolled in the courses.
In the Nipawin area, where farmers
grew specialty grasses such as bluegrass,
Cooper realized their expertise
outstripped what the university was
teaching on the subject. In a move that
was ahead of its time, he asked several of
the farmers to deliver lectures detailing
their growing methods.
“His legacy within the university
community is his ardent support of
young people into their future careers
in agriculture,” said Mary Buhr, dean of
the University of Saskatchewan College
of Agriculture and Bioresources. An
enthusiastic 4-H supporter, Cooper
has also established two annual $1,000
scholarships for students to pursue
business-related studies.
Chairman of the board
The farmer-educator added an advisory
tier to his agricultural career, joining
the Saskatchewan Canola Growers
Association (then the Rapeseed Growers
Association of Saskatchewan) as a farmer-
director in 1973, becoming executive
Winter
2014
grainswest.com
35